Remodel Your Garage on a Budget – 5 Tips from David Kindig

Remodeling any room can be a headache. With cost calculations, determining dimensions, and the sometimes overwhelming amount of options out there, it’s always going to be a big project, and a garage is certainly no exception.

Dave Kindig is a self-made entrepreneur, the founder of Kindig-It Design, a custom automobile shop that converts regular cars into one-of-a-kind showstoppers, and the star of “Bitchin’ Rides” on the Velocity network. He recently remodeled his garage using a storage and organization system. Here are the top five takeaways from his garage remodel experience:

1. Do as much of it yourself as possible

Labor costs can often be higher than the cost of materials, so our best money-saving tip is to do as much of the work yourself as possible. Sure, there’s some work that’s best left to professionals, but with the right tools, the basic skills to use them, and motivation, you’d be surprised how easy a lot of it is to do yourself.

For instance, running wire to outlets only requires a drill and a drill bit designed to go through studs. To insulate walls, you just need a staple gun and staples. Hanging drywall is also not too difficult, and anyone can paint walls. Just look up tutorials online or ask any experts you may know for advice. YouTube and Google are your best friends.

2. Choose affordable materials

For flooring, there are many reasonably priced options for rubber floor tiles and mats. For storage, particle board cabinets are cheap. Wood is more durable, but look for cheap builder’s grade cabinets on the rack at most construction supply stores, and opt to finish them yourself to save money.

For countertops, laminate is usually the cheapest route and it comes in many different styles. Try to buy them off the rack, too. All you need is a circular saw and some sawhorses, and it’s not too difficult to cut them to fit your cabinets yourself.

3. Hide clutter in cabinets or bins

One of Dave Kindig’s goals was to create an organized garage that looked great when the garage doors were open. He accomplished this by installing sufficient cabinet space to keep smaller tools and supplies hidden away. Another idea is to use cabinets without backing, so you can install hooks for hanging tools. Hooks are great for keeping everything within sight, so you don’t have to dig through things to find what you need.

4. Use wall hooks to keep larger items off the ground

Install slatted panel wall organizers to keep large tools, gardening supplies, bikes, and other sports equipment off the ground. These are great for keeping your most commonly used tools readily available, without having to make a mess of your garage hunting for them. This system also saves space and makes your garage look instantly neater. There are many different styles, colors, and hook types to suit all your preferences and needs.

5. Choose products that are adaptable/customizable

For example, during Kindig’s renovation, they ran into a problem involving an architectural detail of his garage that prevented the installation of a particular wall panel. But because wall panel organization systems are very adaptable, they were able to work around it without sacrificing function or aesthetic appeal. This high customizability is ideal when searching for an organization/storage system to use.

Author Bio: Hayden Beck is a freelance writer who contributes content to multiple online publications such as Flow Wall. Hayden’s focus includes writing about technology, home projects, and anything that interests him. Hayden is committed to helping individuals discover new ideas and expand their horizons.